


Dangerous Delusions

by redluna



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, And suggestions of character death, Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-27
Updated: 2013-08-27
Packaged: 2017-12-24 20:07:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/944110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redluna/pseuds/redluna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eames doesn't want to admit that Arthur might be going mad. It's actually starting to feel like <i>he's</i> the one losing his head.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dangerous Delusions

**Author's Note:**

> Based on[ this gifset from tumblr.](http://therewasneverjustone.tumblr.com/post/18962896911/au-inception-inception-exists-only-in-arthurs)

Eames isn’t surprised when he wakes up in an empty bed. This is how it has been for months now, ever since Arthur started having those damn dreams. Or at least they had started out as dreams. Now it’s almost like a constant state of delusion that Arthur is sinking farther into each day. 

He groans as he hears the sound of fluttering paper interposed with the occasional viscous rip. He had put up the papers in an attempt to break Arthur out of the routine he had fallen into, but it hadn’t worked at all. By the time he gets to the study the blackboard wall is bare again already and Arthur is at work. 

He is sketching out all sorts of things onto the board. There are feats of architecture that defy all sense of logic and mazes that make one dizzy trying to find the way out. 

Eames would call his work frenzied if Arthur wasn’t so damn precise about it, using the ruler to ensure that all his lines are straight and wiping away any marks that go outside the lines. 

"Arthur." It doesn’t surprise him that Arthur doesn’t stop, but it still hurts. He moves into the room, paper crumpling under his bare feet as he goes. He catches Arthur’s hand by the wrist, forcing his hand away from the board.

Only that is enough to get Arthur to whirl around to face him. He tries to get his hand free again and sighs as though exasperated when Eames only tightens his grip.

"Arthur, you need to stop this."

"No." Each word is drawn out slowly, like Eames is a child who wouldn’t understand the words otherwise. "You need to stop so I can get back to work."

"Work? This isn’t work! You haven’t done any work since…" Eames bit down on the rest of his words. Getting angry wouldn’t solve anything. "None of this happened, darling." He spreads his free hand out towards the images of the blackboard. "It was only a dream."

Arthur’s face contorts, which is the only warning Eames gets before he yanks his hand back viciously. “No, this is the dream and I’m done trying to explain that to you. You don’t even matter anyway—you’re just a projection.”

Eames sucks in a harsh breath. “You can’t say… I’m your husband for fuck’s sake!”

"No." Arthur turns back towards the board, his face becoming serene again. "That Eames is waiting for me in reality. He knows I’m efficient and that I’ll find a way to get back to him. But if it takes too long he’ll come down and help me. Because he loves me."

"And you don’t think I love you?" Eames asks.

The look Arthur gives Eames is the kind that you give a child who has just said something silly about an important issue; equal parts fond and condescending. “Of course you do, but that’s because I want you to. I would never have an Eames that didn’t love me.”

"Arthur, _please_.” Eames shuts his eyes as Arthur fiddles with the chalk in his hands, his eyes far off. He thinks of the number that Dom slid him during his last visit, one for an asylum, and how soft and sad Mal’s eyes had been. 

"How do you wake up from a dream?" he asks.

"Oh, that’s simple." Arthur is working on the paradoxical stairs again. "You kill yourself."


End file.
